Traveling to Baja California is a magical destination, it attracts tourist from all over the world for their pristine white sand beaches, crystal waters and endless sunny days.
If you are looking for adventure there is plenty to have, swim with the dolphins or the sharks, take a stroll with camels on the beach, go riding a 4 wheel on the desert, hop on boat and go whale watching or just relax while you stroll thru the streets of San Jose del Cabo looking art galleries.
High season in Baja is December thru March, December is busy during the Christmas to new years week, temperatures are mild and tourist come mainly for whale watching, during the months of mid January thru March Grey whales come to give birth, you can practically watch them from the beach.
Before you book that flight avoid the stopover in Mexico City if you can, I know it’s cheaper and you will be tempted to book your flight going thru Mexico City, first, you loose one full day of vacation, may be two with your return, second, you will have to do immigration and possibly customs, I say possibly because there has been time when I had to go thru customs in Mexico City in my way to another country and other times I don’t, either way if you have a tight connection, less than two hours, you may start to panic at the immigration line if it’s full because it can take you two hours to go thru it. I haven’t learn my lesson yet but I hope you do.
Picking the right time to go will depend on what are your expectations, you are not going to see any whales in the summer time, except on the streets of Cabo San Lucas and the water will be cold in the winter. If summer time is for you, June thru August, it will be hot and humid, the water will be warm, bathing suits will adorn the streets, cerveza will be sold in every corner and you will end up buying key chains and magnets for presents you will not remember who they are for when you get home. However, if you choose winter time or high season in Mexico, expect inflated prices, but the weather will be mild, sunny in the day, cool in the evenings. I’m not going to write here about what to wear or take with you, just head to my page “I’m Going To Mexico” and read more about what to wear.
If you take some time to look at a map you can see three mayor cities, Cabo San Lucas, San Jose del Cabo, and La Paz. I’m going to classify them this way; Cabo San Lucas; party until you die, souvenir shops, overpriced trinkets. San Jose del Cabo; galleries, boutiques, relax, historic. La Paz; The capital, whale watching, local tourist, cheap lodging.
If you come to Baja for the blue water and white sand beaches, it doesn’t matter which city you pick, go to La Paz and practice your Spanish, go to Cabo San Lucas and practice salsa dancing at 1 am or go to San Jose del Cabo and practice your art knowledge.
You want to know were I go? Easy, bikini watching in Cabo San Lucas and then I head to San Jose del Cabo to see the galleries. If you go to Cabo San Lucas, get on a boat, photograph El Arco (the arch) and get out. There is nothing pretty about Cabo San Lucas, I have never seen a place so over-rated, tourist flock there from land and from the cruise ships and the city is neither pretty or historic, do you want to invest there? There is plenty of million dollar homes on the hills to choose from, and I’m talking dollars not pesos. Thirty minute north from Cabo San Lucas is San Jose del Cabo which is were the airport is, remember? if you have been in Los Cabos you landed in a beautiful city and skip it all together and headed to Cabo San Lucas in a $100 taxi ride.
There are plenty of great hotels between the cities, but you need to decide if you are the all inclusive, stay at the hotel all day kind of person, or you like to get out of the hotel and walk around, do some shopping , get some ice crean and watch the bikinis or the slender white Scandinavians males roam the streets. Any hotel between the cities is going to be far from any outside activity, you will need to take a taxi, or an Uber, just keep in mind that as of this writing Ubers were not sanctioned in Los Cabos and therefore you had to walk outside the hotel property to catch one. On my last trip I stayed at The Westin Los Cabo Resort, not necessary my choice, you know what I mean, it was 25 minutes from Cabo San Lucas and 20 minutes from San Jose Del Cabo, I felt I was trapped to spend the day at a pool while buying expensive margaritas and listening to thirty kids play Marco……Polo……The beaches and the pool were beautiful, but each time I needed to get out, it was a twenty minute somewhere.
Should you rent a car? it’s expensive, you may find a $35 dollar a day car but the Mexican Liability insurance you HAVE to buy will be expensive, somewhere around $80 a day. So you have to look at the options, if your hotel is too far from anything, will you spend more that $100 in taxis everyday? If you do any tours, they will pick you up at the hotel. My recommendation is, if you like to explore, rent a car, there is a lot to see, but if you only care about the Scandinavians and the bikinis, take a cab.
What tours should you do? Definitely go whale watching in the winter time, it’s beautiful to see up close these magnificent animals hop out of the water. Swim with the dolphin is not my thing, I don’t believe in entertaining ourselves at the expense of captive animals for our enjoyment. They were meant to be in open waters not closed pools, don’t take your camera, you are not allowed to take your own pictures, you will have to buy theirs. There is camel rides, What? Shouldn’t you be in Morocco? Swim with whale sharks, Yes, they are in open water and it’s amassing to watch them swim by you. Play golf, if you like that kind of thing, grab a stick and hit a ball until you put it in a hole and do it all over again, 18 times. We use to do that when I was a kid, but nobody charge us an arm and a leg to do that. You can go 4 wheeling in the desert, is excellent if you have a bad back , it just may fix it.
In a nutshell, take the wife and leave the kids at home, spend their inheritance while you can, you work for it and they believe they are entitle to it, show them wrong.
